AARP Caregiving Resource Center

I came across this excellent website with webinars, videos, and articles to support the caregiver.  The one that caught my attention is titled, "Caring for Yourself During Caregiving" and it has a wealth of information and helpful ideas.  These are not new, but need to be reiterated often due to the extreme importance of these tools for overall health and well-being of caregivers of all kinds.  Please do take time to look over the ideas mentioned and begin to incorporate them into your life today, if you have not already.  If you are wondering why you are seeing this so often, it's because of what I call the 'superwoman syndrome' (applies to male caregivers as well, but superperson sounds contrived).  That is what happens to many caregivers (guilty, myself!) who think that they can manage their lives, families, work, caregiving, and anything else that plops onto their plate, with unfailing strength, ease, and unflagging good humor and wisdom.  Well, I'm here to tell you, you can't.  It's just that simple.  Caregiving wears on a person's infrastructure, energy, mental resources, and spirit like water on rock -- eventually, the water wins and wears down the rock.  It's a fact of nature and physics, so you'd better develop your own individual protection plan before that happens.  Really.  I would not lead you astray.  You might even find that doing some of the recommend solutions might be fun and may rekindle your enthusiasm for life and love.  You'll never know unless you give them a try.